Mental Illness. "cringe". How is it possible that we, as humans, can openly discuss cancer, diabetes, MS, etc., but when we hear mental illness, the room goes silent. Mental illness is as important to know about as the aforementioned illness'.
As we write, we will only write about what WE know. This means we will not write about bipolar, schizophrenia, or PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). We have NOT lived or suffered from these terrible mental illness'. We will write about depression and anxiety, for these are the two mental illness' we as a family have been living with -- and surviving -- at the same time.
The hope of this blog is to be the voices rising to get the knowledge that is needed to have a deeper understanding of mental illness. Not just from the sufferers' point of view, but from the caretaker's view, and the view of children who have lived through the hell of not having a parent mentally, and at times, physically present.
There are four of us in our little family. I (Abby) am the sufferer. My husband (Ryan) has been the caretaker of not only me, but our home and family. Last our two children, Joanie (13) and Hunter (11) have missed out on childhood experiences because of my illness. They have needed to grow up faster than their peers.
I'm going to go back to the days of childhood school, where when you first learn a new topic, you are given definitions to give you a base line to begin your knowledge. This first blog may seem tedious and boring to some, I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not. For those individuals who feel this way, this is only the first entry. To those who need the understanding of terminology that goes with mental wellness, I hope what I give you is simple enough to understand, but not so simple you're left with questions.
The definitions I use will come use from Merriam-Webster online dictionary. The terminology I feel needed are:
sufferer
caretaker
anxiety
panic disorder
depression
counseling
Sufferer - 1 to experience pain, 2 to experience something unpleasant, 3 to submit to or be forced to endure
Caretaker - one who gives physical or emotional care and support
Anxiety - 1 fear or nervousness about what might happen, 2 an abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear often marked by physiological signs (as sweating, tension, and increased pulse)
Panic Disorder - an anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent unexpected panic attacks
Depression - 1 a state of feeling sad, 2 a psychoneurotic or psychotic disorder marked especially by sadness, inactivity, difficulty in thinking and concentration, a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping, feelings of dejection and hopelessness, and sometimes suicidal tendencies
Counseling - professional guidance of the individual by utilizing psychological methods
All of these definitions are correct. However, there is a lot more to anxiety and depression than these definitions. For every person who suffers from these ailments their symptoms may be different. Meaning, what my family and I have suffered and felt with my mental illness', another family can have completely different experiences and feelings.
As we continue this journey as a family, we'd like all to know we want AND expect questions in our comments. We want to help others see that there are options when going through mental illness.
Broken minds can be healed just the way broken bones and broken hearts are healed.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Oct. 2013
Welcome to the blogosphere. There's a whole community of LDS mommy bloggers out there, many struggling to fight the good fight against anxiety and depression.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought, don't you think the entire family would be considered sufferers? Not to minimize the suffering of the individual with the diagnosis, but as an identifier, to label them as the sufferer, seems to insult the impact of mental illness on the family system as a whole. A caretaker suffers as they struggle with the impact the mental illness has on the whole family. A caretaker becomes in many respects like a single parent, although often with greater responsibilities, and in greater isolation because of the walls built because of the mental illness.
Generally, regardless of type of diagnosis, be it cancer, depression, diabetes, children born with special needs, it's referred in writing as individual with __. (Ok, in medical writing it's referred to as patient with ___.) But the point is we aren't our diagnosis, we are individuals, daughters of God taking it one day at a time in our eternal path.
Good luck with your fight. Depression and anxiety are just like diabetes and other chronic illnesses, we have to do little things every day manage the disease and understand that there will be days we experience setbacks. I hope you've found professionals that are helping, and the right balance of medications if necessary.
Self care is crucial. This is taken from one of many articles on lds.org "Exercise can also help alleviate depression. So can changing negative thinking patterns and exercising faith and love."
For some of us routines, or doing service for others have been very helpful as can be mini-goals and accountability for making sure that we're still fighting every day. One of many lists out there is at this link - but we each have to keep trying out different things and find out what works best for us. http://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/anxiety-schmanxiety/2012/05/ten-activities-to-get-rid-of-anxiety/
Again, welcome to the blogosphere, and best wishes with your efforts to make sense of this and work through your depression and anxiety.
Thank you for this insight. I have considered my family sufferers too, but want us each to be able to focus on our part in this journey. As the sufferer I can identify with those who suffer with the illness' I have, whereas, my husband, as a caretaker, can identify with those men and women who are taking on the role of EVERYTHING. He can talk about what he has learned and how it has affected him. Whereas, I can't discuss being the caretaker, because I have not been in that role.
DeletePlease keep reading and leaving comments. The world needs to understand mental illness' better, and that can't be done without people speaking about their own experiences.